Last Summer my backyard St. Augustine took a bad hit: Take-All patch I believe. I'm the one who cuts it using the old Snapper push mower with a sharp blade. I leave it long during the long, hot Summer to minimize watering and allow it to grow it's own shade.
When I did cut it after a month or so, down near the ground it was brown. I noticed that this disease was forming one large circular area. Never seen this before on this now 25yr old grass. Several years ago I brought it back from "rough" and wrote it up. The steps I took then did indeed work. Disease wasn't an issue however.
I used a granular fungicide recommended by an old-timer at a local feedstore that carries far more lawn/garden supplies than any box store. Further, much of what they carry you can't even buy at the box stores.
This year I didn't shred/pile oak leaves into the compost bins as usual. I wanted to try something different. Instead, I sharpened the mulch blade, set the cutting height to about 2.5", increased the B&S engine speed, and mulched-in-place. This was quite effective as the large, tough oak leaves were reduced to finger nail size. Much smaller than with the bagging blade & grass bag attached (which fills up far too fast this time of year). Minimal raking to spread any large clumps out, some liquid fertilizer from a hose end sprayer to wet it all down and then left it until the rest of the leaves fell.
I wanted to see how well this would work vs. filling the compost bins. It's much easier this way. Figured I'd either spread compost from 2 bins on top of the shredded leaves after they all fell or I'd top-dress with peat moss due to its acidity which makes life difficult for the fungus if it's still there.
Over time this would break down the shredded leaves in place & save my back. Time will tell...
Another 'acidic' top dress came to me: Spent coffee grounds. I contacted a local coffee shop and they were glad to give me all I could carry. The bags they use hold about 2.5#'s I guess. I carried off 18 to 21. Quite heavy as they were wet with coffee.
Wondering how I was going to spread this wet, granular product I came upon the idea of clamping my electric leaf blower upside down in a B&D workstation, attaching the leaf vac tube, pointing it in the right direction and feeding handfuls of wet coffee grounds into it which shot out the blower end! Worked pretty good actually. I did have to clean out the impeller chamber a couple of times but no worries.
When the last of the oak leaves + tasells covered the yard, I mulched again as before. Applied a few pounds of ammonium sulfate just before a rain. The grass was beginning to wake up and fill in again as we had very little "Winter" this year. Rather we had April in Feb., May in March, etc.
Over the weekend, I spread out 9 more bags of the wet grounds, this time by hand in the mostly bare spots as more rain is forecast.
While doing so, my mind began thinking about another way to spread light top dressings like peat moss: I needed a bigger blower.
The thought occurred to rent an attic insulation blower! It has a section to grind/fluff up the compressed insulation bales (much like compressed peat bales), a large CFM blower and enough 6" dia hose to be useful to allow the machine to sit in one place. I got a big grin on my face at the thought. Can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.
Thoughts, suggestions?
When I did cut it after a month or so, down near the ground it was brown. I noticed that this disease was forming one large circular area. Never seen this before on this now 25yr old grass. Several years ago I brought it back from "rough" and wrote it up. The steps I took then did indeed work. Disease wasn't an issue however.
I used a granular fungicide recommended by an old-timer at a local feedstore that carries far more lawn/garden supplies than any box store. Further, much of what they carry you can't even buy at the box stores.
This year I didn't shred/pile oak leaves into the compost bins as usual. I wanted to try something different. Instead, I sharpened the mulch blade, set the cutting height to about 2.5", increased the B&S engine speed, and mulched-in-place. This was quite effective as the large, tough oak leaves were reduced to finger nail size. Much smaller than with the bagging blade & grass bag attached (which fills up far too fast this time of year). Minimal raking to spread any large clumps out, some liquid fertilizer from a hose end sprayer to wet it all down and then left it until the rest of the leaves fell.
I wanted to see how well this would work vs. filling the compost bins. It's much easier this way. Figured I'd either spread compost from 2 bins on top of the shredded leaves after they all fell or I'd top-dress with peat moss due to its acidity which makes life difficult for the fungus if it's still there.
Over time this would break down the shredded leaves in place & save my back. Time will tell...
Another 'acidic' top dress came to me: Spent coffee grounds. I contacted a local coffee shop and they were glad to give me all I could carry. The bags they use hold about 2.5#'s I guess. I carried off 18 to 21. Quite heavy as they were wet with coffee.
Wondering how I was going to spread this wet, granular product I came upon the idea of clamping my electric leaf blower upside down in a B&D workstation, attaching the leaf vac tube, pointing it in the right direction and feeding handfuls of wet coffee grounds into it which shot out the blower end! Worked pretty good actually. I did have to clean out the impeller chamber a couple of times but no worries.
When the last of the oak leaves + tasells covered the yard, I mulched again as before. Applied a few pounds of ammonium sulfate just before a rain. The grass was beginning to wake up and fill in again as we had very little "Winter" this year. Rather we had April in Feb., May in March, etc.
Over the weekend, I spread out 9 more bags of the wet grounds, this time by hand in the mostly bare spots as more rain is forecast.
While doing so, my mind began thinking about another way to spread light top dressings like peat moss: I needed a bigger blower.
The thought occurred to rent an attic insulation blower! It has a section to grind/fluff up the compressed insulation bales (much like compressed peat bales), a large CFM blower and enough 6" dia hose to be useful to allow the machine to sit in one place. I got a big grin on my face at the thought. Can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.
Thoughts, suggestions?